Light starship for the Allied Systems Exploration and Defense Directorate.

About this creation

Boudica Class Corvette

Description: The Boudica Class Corvette is a light starship of the Allied Systems Exploration and Defense Directorate. It's primary duties are intersystem patrol and exploration. While not as flexible as the Oberon Class Scout, the Boudica Class has a number of features that differentiate it from other ships of a similar size class.

The sublight engines of the Boudica class were designed for larger destroyer class ships. As such, the reactor power output and thrust are quite overpowered for a ship this size. Due to these powerful engines, the Boudica Class is much faster than anything else in its size class, and it can even outrun some fighter craft. As the engines have power to spare, they were also outfitted with a number of vernier thrust ports that greatly increase the maneuverability of the ship without much of an effect on its speed. The warp engines of the Boudica class are standard for a ship of its size and are powered by a pair of positronium reactors inside the ship.

The standard weapons layout for the Boudica class consists of dual plasma cannon turrets, one on top of each wing, and two phase blasters at the front of each sublight engine. Both of these weapons systems can be powered directly from the main positronium reactors or from the fusion reactors of the sublight engines. The underside of the wings can be outfitted with optional hardpoints for other ordinances, such as antimatter torpedoes or probes. The plasma turrets can be removed and replaced with a sophisticated sensor system similar to the ones used on Oberon Class Scouts.

The Boudica Class also features a detachable cockpit section. This section has its own sublight propulsion and life support, and can be used as either a lifeboat in emergencies or as a small scout craft. The propulsion system consists of four fusion powered quad thruster ports, which give the cockpit section excellent maneuverability for docking and other such operations. The front section also has a gravitational drive system for planetary operations.

Behind the scenes: I started building this ship with the wings first. I had designed the warp engines for another project and decided to use them for this ship. They ended up being somewhat large, so I scaled them down just a bit. Then I moved onto the rear section of the ship. I wanted it to have a removable cockpit section. Both the cockpit and the rear use a set of heavy hatch looking doors that you can see in one of the pics below. The cockpit and rear section then can still be completely closed off when separated. The sublight engines were inspired by one of the newer Space Police engine designs. As you can see from the main picture, the roof of the ship is designed to open for better access inside and the cockpit also has an opening roof segment.

Update:

The Boudica Class has been recently updated with better warp engines, giving this already swift class a higher speed and better endurance.